My American Standard low-flow toilet is no longer emptying the bowl
of waste. The basin empties, the swirl occurs but nothing drops
through without multiple flushes.

I've already snaked it to make sure nothing is blocking the flap.
I've used chemicals to clear the line. And these seemed to help for
one or two flushes.

It's getting old using the plumber's helper after every use just to
make sure the toilet does its job on the first try.

Any ideas on what's going on or how to fix it -- short of replacing
the entire toilet.

The Ranger

In article ,
"The Ranger" wrote:

My American Standard low-flow toilet is no longer emptying the bowl
of waste. The basin empties, the swirl occurs but nothing drops
through without multiple flushes.

I've already snaked it to make sure nothing is blocking the flap.
I've used chemicals to clear the line. And these seemed to help for
one or two flushes.

It's getting old using the plumber's helper after every use just to
make sure the toilet does its job on the first try.

Any ideas on what's going on or how to fix it -- short of replacing
the entire toilet.

Might be the syphon is clogging, that happens to my mother's toilet
often. You can use a specially bent coathanger to reach in, hard water
tends to clog where it goes into the bowl.

--
Free men own guns - www.geocities/CapitolHill/5357/

I've already snaked it to make sure nothing is blocking the flap.
I've used chemicals to clear the line. And these seemed to help for
one or two flushes.

I had a similar problem with my "whatever" toilet. I tried everything you
did. It didn't help.

Finally, I took the toilet off the base. I found that "someone" had put
the "spool" from the toilet paper holder down the toilet! It didn't quite
block things entirely but it nicely locked itself in place out of sight from
top and bottom. Its round shape diverted the "snakes."

I used a shop vac from the bottom of the toilet. I didn't have any idea
there was something "up there" but I just wanted to be sure the path
throught the toilet was clear. When the vac sucked in something that made
a "clunk" I figured I had solved the problem and I had.

It goes without saying that I have kids.

On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 08:10:44 -0700, "The Ranger"
wrote:

My American Standard low-flow toilet is no longer emptying the bowl
of waste. The basin empties, the swirl occurs but nothing drops
through without multiple flushes.

I've already snaked it to make sure nothing is blocking the flap.
I've used chemicals to clear the line. And these seemed to help for
one or two flushes.

Err.... What flap?
And what did you snake the thing with?




It's getting old using the plumber's helper after every use just to
make sure the toilet does its job on the first try.

Any ideas on what's going on or how to fix it -- short of replacing
the entire toilet.

The Ranger

Goedjn wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Oct 2006 08:10:44 -0700, "The Ranger"
wrote:

My American Standard low-flow toilet is no longer
emptying the bowl of waste. The basin empties, the
swirl occurs but nothing drops through without multiple
flushes.

I've already snaked it to make sure nothing is blocking
the flap. I've used chemicals to clear the line. And these
seemed to help for one or two flushes.

Err.... What flap?

Apparently there isn't any which doesn't help me figure out why it's
taking multiple attempts to empty the bowl...

The water swirls about, waste is removed (slowly), and the water
level never drops until after it's plunged with the plumber's
helper. Neither of the other toilets are performing this poorly (and
they're both American Standard 1.6 two-piece toilets.)

And what did you snake the thing with?

My bad; I used an auger. Nothing was dislodged or returned back for
me to view.

The Ranger

Nick Hull suggested in message
.. .
In article , "The Ranger"
asked:

My American Standard low-flow toilet is no longer
emptying the bowl of waste.
[snip]
Any ideas

Might be the syphon is clogging, that happens to my
mother's toilet often. You can use a specially bent
coathanger to reach in, hard water tends to clog
where it goes into the bowl.

I'll be damned. Thanks!

I rammed my own specially-bent coathanger up through the hole and
shanked it about for three minutes. At first nothing seemed to
happen... But then a whole lot of calcium and "other" debris came
shooting out. Pretty soon the lower bowl was littered with chunks. A
quick flush and -- Voy-oh-lah -- it's working again on one tank's
worth of water. The syphon was indeed reduced to a trickle. Is there
a way of getting back into that area with some CLR without lifting
the whole tank from the floor? If I was able to scrap so much
calcium with the tip of a coathanger, I can just imagine how much
must really be in the syphon preventing the toilet from discharging
its duties.

The Ranger

According to John Gilmer :
I had a similar problem with my "whatever" toilet. I tried everything you
did. It didn't help.

Finally, I took the toilet off the base. I found that "someone" had put
the "spool" from the toilet paper holder down the toilet! It didn't quite
block things entirely but it nicely locked itself in place out of sight from
top and bottom. Its round shape diverted the "snakes."

I'll echo John's suggestion. If the tank is filling normally,
and seems to be emptying into the bowl normally, if the bowl
is slow to drain, it's probably something in the bottom of the
toilet or the drain.

What you're describing is a flow restriction out of the bottom of
the bowl - the water doesn't get going fast enough to properly
flush. Either something that the auger won't hook onto (experience
with a toilet that had an air freshener mounting bracket down the
trap), or, remotely, that the vent is clogged and providing back
pressure.

To absolutely confirm it's the bowl or drain - try filling the bowl
from a bucket. That's isolated from whatever the tank does/doesn't
do.

Once you've isolated it to the bowl, you have two areas to check -
you pick the one that's more confortable to test first (but Murphy's
means you pick the wrong one to do first, so do the hard one first.
No wait, it knows you know, so it'll be the easiest. No wait.... ;-)).

1) Pull the toilet off the flange, inspect and snake the trap in
reverse, and also snake out the drain pipe near the flange.

2) Go on the roof and snake the vent.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

John Gilmer wrote in message
...

I've already snaked it to make sure nothing is blocking the
flap.
I've used chemicals to clear the line. And these seemed to help
for one or two flushes.

I had a similar problem with my "whatever" toilet. I tried
everything
you did. It didn't help.

Finally, I took the toilet off the base. I found that "someone"
had put
the "spool" from the toilet paper holder down the toilet! It
didn't quite
block things entirely but it nicely locked itself in place out of
sight from
top and bottom. Its round shape diverted the "snakes."

I used a shop vac from the bottom of the toilet. I didn't have
any idea
there was something "up there" but I just wanted to be sure the
path
throught the toilet was clear. When the vac sucked in something
that
made a "clunk" I figured I had solved the problem and I had.

It goes without saying that I have kids.

My kids are slightly older now and haven't ever been able to tell
lies (I am _so_ lucky on this count) so they were cleared of any
mischief quickly. It was a real stumper but clearing out the syphon
seems to have worked.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. Using the shopvac is an excellent
idea.

The Ranger

According to The Ranger :
I rammed my own specially-bent coathanger up through the hole and
shanked it about for three minutes. At first nothing seemed to
happen... But then a whole lot of calcium and "other" debris came
shooting out. Pretty soon the lower bowl was littered with chunks. A
quick flush and -- Voy-oh-lah -- it's working again on one tank's
worth of water. The syphon was indeed reduced to a trickle. Is there
a way of getting back into that area with some CLR without lifting
the whole tank from the floor? If I was able to scrap so much
calcium with the tip of a coathanger, I can just imagine how much
must really be in the syphon preventing the toilet from discharging
its duties.

Use one of the submerse-in-tank bowl cleaners, check the instructions
for descaling properties. A week or two should clear it as long as
there's _some_ flow.

While using one of these all the time isn't necessarily a good idea,
using one periodically might well help.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.